In years past I never went out of my way to score any conifer species, minus a couple rounds here and there to make kindling from. After joining this forum, learning AND un-learning a few things, I've come to see evergreens in a new light (especially when seeing them lit up in my stove, warming the house ) So like a good hoarder I made a dedicated area in my stacks for conifer species. Right now it's just Blue Spruce and some Eastern Hemlock in there. It should hold about 3/4 cord which I think is a good amount to start off with. I have some cedar and more spruce behind it anyway. This will all be for the 2021-2022 season. Seeing space available yet, I stopped today and got more Eastern Hemlock that someone discarded on a road side. Further down the road, I found a pile of fresh Eastern White Pine limbs that someone again dumped where they shouldn't have. I grabbed a couple of the bigger chunks and off I went. This should pretty much fill out my dedicated area, then I can move on to some more selective scrounging.
Softwoods certainly have their place in the heating world. Some areas only have softwoods to choose from. Even though we are lucky in the Northeast to have a wide variety of heavy hitting hardwood species, softwood species can help with a number of things. They season very quickly, usually in around 6 months, so they can bridge the gap so longer seasoning woods like Oak can dry. Softwoods can also be good for mild shoulder season days, where the hardwoods may produce too much heat or you don't want to "waste" the hardwoods on a milder day. They are also typically lighter in weight, so handling the rounds and splits is less tiresome than heavy hardwood species. Some hardwood species may need to be noodled to get on a horizontal splitter without a log lift, whereas the softwood may be able to be lifted due to it lighter weight. Of course there is a downside for every upside. Softwoods like EWP burn very quickly, don't leave much in the way of coals, and only produce about half the MBTU's per cord of a high quality Oak, Hickory, Locust, Hard Maple, etc. Therefore you need twice as much to do the same thing. When you're talking extra CORDS, it can add up to a significant amount. In conclusion all woods deserve a place in your heating arsenal, and when Old Man Winter comes barreling towards you with high winds and blizzard like conditions any wood is better than no wood. Lets all raise a glass to the underappreciated softwoods of the world!!!
This is my first year burning spruce and for the couple fires I had with it so far, it burned great. I'm definitely looking forward to burning the Hemlock next year too as I was able to buck it to my preferred length (18") All the spruce I have was bucked pretty short and given to me, although I can't complain much about free wood. It just means I throw a couple extra pieces in when I reload.
Ha! I know, it seems everyone has piles of evergreen logs that they're itching to get rid of, and I'm over here getting excited over scoring a few pieces of knot-infested wood
yeah I have no problem with it. Usually have burnt a bit every year in the past. Just have too much to do at the moment. Easier to give it away than CSS.
I can imagine, you must have an enormous mountain of logs waiting to be processed between BL, Hickory and whatever else found its way to your yard this summer. Must be daunting. So much for being retired, ay?! All in good fun.
Here in Alaska spruce is the most abundant by a long shot. There have been years that I burn it 100% of the season, I happen to get some birch but that not my standard of what I get to burn.
Just be careful, you might burn your house down with those softwoods! I have a cord of spruce in the pile too... And a little EWP.
I think I have this one under control. I'm going to throw plenty of fresh cut red oak and willow in the firebox with it, which should help smother the flames a bit and give me excellent burn times
I am also a fan of conifers. They are dedicated to the firepit, never tried them in the fireplace though, maybe its worth a shot. The only downside is splitting them, I find the knots are sometimes tough to get through.
I got a bunch of pine from the black locust haul I got. Part of the deal was I had to take it. Ive been mixing it with some black cherry this SS. I really like it. Only 1/2 cord split, with another cord in rounds. Wish I had more ready to go. Will always have some softwoods in my stacks from now on.
Agreed, I use the draft control freely. I was definitely being facetious about the fresh oak and willow too! I've been getting by great cleaning my chimney once a season and I have no intention of going backwards. The less I'm up on the roof, the better.
